The National Transportation Safety Board wants to lower the drunken driving limit to 0.05.

The group said the lower limit would mean safer roads. The blood alcohol content level would drop from 0.08 to 0.05.

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How many drinks would it take to reach the new limit, if it becomes law?

The Iowa State Patrol helped KCCI's Laura Nichols test the new limit Wednesday.

"What we're going to do here is the preliminary breath test," said Trooper Nathan Rippey.

Rippey gave Nichols the test to show her blood alcohol was 0.00 before having any drinks. Over about 45 minutes, Nichols drank about one and a half 12 ounce beers -- and was then tested again.

"You had a 0.024," said Rippey.

That means Nichols was about halfway to the suggested new limit. If the new limit becomes law, drinkers would have to keep a much closer eye on how much they consume.

"When you got to a number of like 0.05 it's the casual drinker that's affected," said Jessica Dunker, president of The Iowa Restaurant Association.

She said lowering the legal limit from 0.08 to 0.05 will hurt restaurants and won't necessarily make the roads any safer.

"The responsible drivers are the ones we want to attract into establishments and do business with. They're the ones who will stop coming, stop ordering and stop spending and then we really do see a huge economic impact in our industry," said Dunker.

If the lower limit becomes law, state troops said they're not going to change how they patrols the roads, but just want to warn people to always err on the side of caution when drinking alcohol.

Troopers said that once you have alcohol in your system, your judgment and motor skills begin to feel the effects.

Exactly how many drinks you can have before you reach the proposed limit depends on a number of factors. Someone 5 foot 3 inches tall and 115 pounds could have about three beers, but it might take a larger person a few more.

The NTSB board unanimously passed the new limit Tuesday, but it is up to each individual state to adopt the tougher new limit before it would become law.